Obama Rejects Townhall Lincoln-Douglas Debates

Dr. Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: Barack Obama continues to show that he want to be not only the "one" but the "only one." He feels more comfortable with staged debates than rubbing shoulders with voters in a series of Lincoln-Douglas townhall debates with John McCain. On Saturday, Barack Obama backed away from rival John McCain's challenge for a series of Lincoln-Douglas townhall debates. While Obama said he would welcome a series of townhall meetings with McCain, now that he, and not Mrs. Clinton, is the Democrat's presumptive candidate, he has flip-flopped his way out of his previous statement.

Obama had time to fly to Europe and to the Middle East to create false media image of his competency in meeting with heads of states. Did the first term Senator consider if his intrusion was proper protocol? He imposed himself on the leaders of other countries. Obviously, European or Middle East leaders were not willing to refuse meeting with a person who "might" be the next president of the United States. He does as he wishes in the hopes of impressing voters back in the U.S. Then he speaks at a rally in Germany to an alleged 200,000 Germans after two rock groups had played. He announces his presumptive status to be president of the World and skips visiting with wounded U.S. military in Germany.

Obama could do campaign stunts with leaders of the other countries who didn't even wish to see him, he could take time extolling a one world utopia at a German rally, and then does what no other U.S. Senator would do - he skips visiting with wounded troops. Fortunately, Europeans don't vote for America's president. Americans vote and it appears that the last persons Obama want to confront are the American voters in town hall meetings. Instead, Obama prefers the controlled debate formats before cameras that are structured to afford him the protection of a biased media.

Obama agreed to only participate in the standard three debates in the fall proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates. In a letter to the commission, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said the short period between the last political convention and the first proposed debate made it likely that the commission-sponsored debates would be the only ones in the fall. "We've committed to the three debates on the table," campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in an interview. "It's likely they will be the three appearances by the candidates this fall." The first debate is set for Sept. 26 in Oxford, Miss., three weeks after the Republican National Convention concludes on Sept. 4. The other presidential debates are set for Oct. 7 and Oct. 15 and the vice presidential debate for Oct. 2.